BUFFALO, N.Y. — Brad May woke up to dozens and dozens of messages on his phone on Friday morning and quickly learned the sad news that hit the hockey world on Thursday night: Rick Jeanneret, the Buffalo Sabres’ Hall of Fame broadcaster, had died at 81 years old.
May knows he’ll always be tied to Jeanneret. During Jeanneret’s final season on the microphone, the team held a fan vote to determine RJ’s best call. The winner was his famous “May Day” call from May’s overtime winner in the 1993 playoffs. It’s the same call that was played when Jeanneret went into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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“I was part of it,” May told The Athletic by phone. “I was front and center, maybe even the lead actor. He was just so great for us as Buffalo Sabres. We fought and worked hard to be a player and to be prideful of the Buffalo Sabre logo and organization. Rick was right there with us from day one. Outside of Gilbert Perreault, Patty LaFontaine, Dominik Hasek, I’m trying to think who would be more famous? He’s the face of the Buffalo Sabres.”
May’s goal came just 4:48 into overtime against the Boston Bruins and clinched a series sweep in the Adams Division semifinal. Pat LaFontaine fell down at center ice but got the puck to May, who skated around Ray Bourque and ripped a shot by Andy Moog for the game-winner. Jeanneret started yelling, “May Day!” repeatedly in the call that now holds a permanent place in franchise history.
Rick Jeanneret forever. 💙💛
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 18, 2023
“He was the voice of our business card for each and every one of us players,” May said. “He was iconic and I have a brand because of him. Our introduction to the community (when) you play in Western New York is Rick’s voice. It’s his voice that people connect to.
“With his illustrations, he made a lot of people fall in love with hockey because of his energy and his descriptions. Instead of being sad as much as it is today, it’s a time for celebration at some point of Rick Jeanneret. Because Buffalo loved him, and he loved Buffalo.”
So many in Western New York undoubtedly thought of the “May Day!” call when learning of Jeanneret’s death. But the first thing May said about Jeanneret when reached by phone was, “He was a friend.” That was Jeanneret’s enduring legacy within the walls of the rinks he occupied. His voice helped so many fans fall in love with hockey. That same voice was a sense of comfort and laughs for those who knew him away from the microphone.
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“RJ’s upstairs today and he’s got to be proud of who he was, what he did and how he impacted people and how much joy he brought to people,” May said.
“We lost the best there was,” Pat LaFontaine added via text. “Plus an amazing human being with a big heart. He was truly, ‘one of a kind.’”
Added Seymour Knox IV, the son of Sabres founder Seymour Knox III: “The Sabres were very deep in Rick’s heart. He was a constant current flowing through our Sabres family for close to 50 years. He’s a father figure for many. The way he engaged fans not only on radio, but through TV and cable as the years moved on, he was the voice and the face of the organization”
Rob Ray, who played for the Sabres and later worked alongside Jeanneret as part of the broadcast team, understood what it meant to be his friend. It meant being the butt of jokes at times and plenty of ribbing. But Jeanneret would also call a player in his hotel room when he was going through a rough stretch. He knew when people around him needed encouragement.
“RJ took the interest in the player and got to know the player a lot,” Ray said. “He was one of those guys you were around all the time and he was almost your dad or grandfather.”
May is grateful Jeanneret got a proper sendoff during his final season in 2021-22. Jeanneret was one of the most influential people in Sabres history. Fans got to celebrate him. The current team got to understand the franchise’s history through him. And most importantly, Jeanneret got to feel how much love this community has for him.
“It was absolutely beautiful,” May said. “The greatest part is that he knows he was loved. None of us want to leave this world, but the way he lived his life, he made a massive impact in his sphere of influence. I of course was sad, but when I think of him he makes me smile.
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“Rick Jeanneret is a big part of 51 years of Buffalo Sabres lore. It was beautiful his perseverance and dedication to the team as much as how good he was. If there was a Mount Rushmore, Rick Jeanneret’s face or statue is on it as a Buffalo Sabre.”
That dedication is another quality that his friends bring up over and over again. Ray used to ask him why he kept doing the broadcast for so long. Jeanneret felt like the fans depended on him.
“It wasn’t a selfish reason for him to keep going,” Ray said. “It was him feeling that he owed something to the fans. On nights he might not have been doing the game he would always go to the lobby and say, I have to shake hands. We used to joke around with him like, ‘You’re Canadian. You can’t run for mayor here. Get ready for the game.’ He just loved the people.”
On Friday, the Sabres had Jeanneret’s calls playing over the speakers in Alumni Plaza outside the arena. General manager Kevyn Adams said the team plans to celebrate him, “every day.”
“We should have a suspender day for him,” Knox IV said. “My dad used to wear suspenders for special occasions like a black-tie dinner, but every game you’d see Rick in his suspenders.”
“He’s part of the fabric of this organization,” Adams said. “He’s part of the history.”
Adams said his favorite part of Jeanneret’s farewell season was seeing the way players got to connect with him one on one and ask him questions about the history of the franchise. Adams himself took every chance he could to pull Jeanneret aside on the road and pick his brain.
“It’s all part of when you talk about being part of something special and it’s bigger than you,” Adams said. “We all felt that and continue to feel that.”
Sabres coach Don Granato added, “The takeaway for me the last few years being around him, he does make you want to be a Sabre. He just does. He makes you proud to be a Sabre.”
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May’s biggest regret is that Jeanneret never got to call a Stanley Cup win. He said he feels guilty that they “couldn’t deliver it for him.”
But Jeanneret did get to see the team start to turn a corner in the last two seasons. And in what would be his final remarks to the fans in a video played in the arena at the end of the season, he concluded by saying, “This is a team to be proud of, a team worth believing in. And if they don’t have your attention yet, they will soon.”
(Photo of Brad May attending a ceremony honoring Rick Jeanneret in 2022: Bill Wippert / NHLI via Getty Images)
